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Erik Westermann, Komplett Systems test

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Erik Westermann's blog about BizTalk, Commerce Server, Integration, Writing (technical and otherwise). All content is Copyright, 2008, Erik Westermann. Permission required to duplicate. Citations appreciated.

September 2009 - Posts

  • Calling a BizTalk Custom Receive Pipeline from an Orchestration?

    When calling a receive pipeline in an orchestration's Expression shape, the receive pipeline must be a Disassembler and therefore implement the IDisassemblerComponent interface. 

    Your custom pipeline won't work if isn't a disassembler - period. Although the means of calling a pipeline from within an orchestration suggests that the pipeline must be a Disassembler, since you need to call the pipeline's GetNext method, it isn't clearly stated anywhere that I looked.

    I suppose it's a logical design; however, the approach forces developers to take an all or nothing approach in that you must either write your own disassembler or contain the existing disassembler within your pipeline. It would be useful to be able to call other types of pipelines from inside an orchestration.

    Posted Sep 23 2009, 03:44 PM by Erik with no comments
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  • Parallels 4.0.3846 - Networking Problems Solution...

    Using Parallels 4.0, a desktop virtualization product, has been productive. The interface is great, performance has never been a problem - my Mac easily handles two VMs running at the same time under Parallels 4.0.

     An intermittent networking problem surfaced recently. Guest operating systems like Windows 2003 Server and Windows XP had trouble connecting to local resources when connected via Parallels Bridged networking option. Windows would sometimes report a network resource (file share, TFS connection, intranet site) inaccessible, non-existent, or unavailable. I could connect after several tries, but the connection wasn't reliable and would often drop during various operations.

    Owning VMWare Fusion too, I converted the Parallels VMs that were having problems into VMWare Fusion (took about 30 minutes per VM). On booting up the VMWare Fusion VM in the exact state I left it in under Parallels, I immediately and successfully connected to all network resources. I continue to work trouble-free.

     I tried to post this on the Parallels support forum, but it is moderated and my post has not been approved yet.

    I like Parallels, especially since it directly supports Mac Snow Leopard 10.6 for the host operating system (VMWare provides experimental host support for 10.6). I'll switch back once they fix this problem.

    Posted Sep 22 2009, 02:26 PM by Erik with no comments
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  • Smarter MacBook Sleep

    You may know that I do all my work using MacBook Pro. Like other notebooks, the MacBook goes into sleep mode when you close the lid/display or tap the power button and choose the Sleep option. Apple likes to make things seamless for its users - this is the main reason I switched from Windows as my day-to-day operating system (I use Windows for all of my other work, but the split between the time in Windows versus using MacOS directly is actually about 50/50!).

    Apple setup Sleep such that the computer can run out of battery power when it is in Sleep mode and still be able to recover. It does this by writing the contents of RAM into a file before it goes into Sleep mode. The MacBook Pro is a fast computer, so it takes about 10 seconds to write out the contents of RAM to a file.

    While this is a nice feature, the 4Gb of disk space this uses comes in handy, especially since I have a few virtual machine images ranging between 5 and 60 Gb - I can use all the disk space I have.

    SmartSleep is an application that allows you to set the Sleep mode such that the Mac does not write the contents of RAM to a file before going to sleep - saving time and disk space. SmartSleep also provides a Sleep mode called SmartSleep that lets you set a number (interpreted as percent of charge left or run time on battery remaining) - once the batter hits this value, SmartSleep writes the contents of RAM out to a file to avoid loss of data! Cool.

    Granted, you have to be careful about using SmartSleep in SmartSleep mode since it's possible that you MacBook can run out of battery power when it's in a nicely padded laptop bag, or being bounced around in the trunk of your car - but this is a small consideration when you think of the amount of time and disk space you'll save each time you put your MacBook to sleep (in my case, I restart my MacBook every few months, so this is really handy).

    Posted Sep 11 2009, 06:42 PM by Erik with no comments
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  • Offsetting our carbon emissions: Greener solutions

    wWorkflow.net and the underlying consulting services company is please to announce that we are now buying carbon offsets to offset the carbon that gets generated as a result of developing solutions for our clients and running this site.

     A “carbon offset” is an emission reduction credit from another organization’s project that results in less carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than would otherwise occur.

    For example, assume that one notebook computer uses 75 Watts of electricity per hour for two weeks (at eight hours per day). The total energy use for the two weeks works out to about 6,000 KiloWatt hours (that's 75W times 8 hours times 10 working days). Generating about 5,500KWh emits about one tonne of Carbon into the atmosphere.

    We buy carbon offsets by the tonne to offset the carbon that gets emitted into the atmosphere. By buying these offsets, we help to develop cleaner energy sources and help produce electricity using renewable sources (like solar, wind, hydro, etc) that offset our emissions. The tonne that gets emitted when the conventional electricity gets generated is already in the atmosphere, yet carbon offsets can also work to remove carbon by investing in farms (a farm removes carbon from the atmosphere when the plants it grows absorb carbon as they grow).

    We buy carbon offsets from well-known, Canadian offset retailers that meet stringent standards for audit and energy generation. More information is available from the David Sizuki Foundation.

    Our clients don't have to do anything to gain the benefits of carbon offsets - wWorkflow.net buys carbon offsets* each month at no cost to our clients!

    The end result is a better environment, today and in the future. wWorkflow.net - providing expert and new greener solutions!

     

    * So, how much does it cost to offset one tonne of carbon emissions? We operate in Ontario, Canada so one tonne of carbon offsets costs about $38 Canadian. The average Canadian resident generates about 22 tonnes of carbon per year, putting the cost to offset that at about $815 Canadian. The money gets used by reputable offset retailers to buy renewable energy that gets distributed on the regular electricity network.

  • MakeMyTweet - Free Systems Integration Architecture and Design Service

    MakeMyTweet is new, free service by my consulting services company.

    MakeMyTweet offers free systems integration architecture and design services - no strings attached!

    Visit MakeMyTweet to try it - it's free, open, and...well...free!

    Posted Sep 01 2009, 06:08 PM by Erik with no comments
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  • Stackoverflow Dev Days - Toronto

    I'm happy to announce that my consulting services company is sponsoring part of the Stackoverflow Dev Days Toronto Conference (link).

    ArtOfBabel.com is the department that's sponsoring the event's coffee breaks, so I'll be at the venue in the exhibitor's area and at the coffee breaks. 

    I am giving away two tickets to Stackoverflow Dev Days Toronto - details here.

     

    Posted Sep 01 2009, 06:00 PM by Erik with no comments
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